County buys 5 acres for $800K in O.B.
Also doles out money for pathways around township
BY JESSICA SMITH Staff Writer
Two grants will help local officials preserve natural beauty in Old Bridge, while allowing more residents to enjoy it.

The Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders presented the grants to officials at a ceremony Dec. 20. The larger one, at $800,000 in county open space funds, will allow the township to purchase 5.3 acres of wooded property off Ticetown Road.

"This is a good purchase because it will preserve, forever, land within a residential area that would have been developed with more housing units," Freeholder Director David B. Crabiel said.

Owned by the Old Bridge Rotary Senior Housing Corp., the parcel was slated for an approved 54 senior citizen apartments.

"If you appraised it as if it were going to have the approvals on it, [the cost] would have been more," Mayor Jim Phillips said.

According to Phillips, county officials sought appraisals on the property, then negotiated with the Rotary group to settle upon the price.

Since the land is being purchased through the county's open space trust fund, a conservation restriction will be placed on it, preserving the tract for posterity.

Old Bridge Township Councilman Kevin Calogera said there is little open space remaining in that area of town, and thanked the freeholders for their help with the purchase.

"They have been a good partner in helping us acquire open space throughout the township, and we hope to work with them again to add more in the future," Calogera said.

The Old Bridge-Sayreville Rotary Club will donate the proceeds of the land sale to various charities and projects throughout the community, according to club President Ed Wojtaszek. He said most of themoneywill be allocated to constructing the township's new YMCA in PeterMannino Park, Route 516. Some of the proceeds will also go toward building a handicapped-accessible playground and park at a newschool for special-needs students in Sayreville, which is being built by the Middlesex Regional Educational Services Commission.

"These fundswill do a lot of good,"Wojtaszek said. "The freeholders continue to look out for the residents of the county. They keep the residents as their top priority. That is a big, big positive."

Phillips pointed out one group of residents who may particularly benefit from the land purchase.

"This may be seen as a little piece of land to some, but it's going to mean a lot to the peoplewho live around it," Phillips said. "Hopefully, it will be put to good use by the senior citizens who live in the [Old Bridge Rotary Senior Housing] complex at 100 Ticetown Road."

Crabiel said the freeholders are committed to increasing the county's open space inventory, butwere pleased to have two benefits come from this buy.

"First, we protect the land from development. Second, the proceeds of the sale will be used to help residents of all ages throughout the community," Crabiel said.

The second county grant, for $80,000, will go toward the construction of bicycle paths andwalkways near theWhispering Pines housing development, off Route 516. Phillips said the pathways will connect the development to Mannino Park, and eventually link the park to the GlenwoodApartments.

Township officials submitted a plan to the county for the project, asking the county to cover 80 percent of the cost. The township will foot $20,000 of the bill.

According to Phillips, constructionwill begin as soon as a bid is awarded thatwill likely take place sometime in spring.